Surakiart in a new role as 'honest broker'

Surakiart Sathirathai, recently appointed an adviser to the Truth for Reconciliation Commission (TRC), doesn't believe that even if Thaksin Shinawatra and Gen Prem Tinsulanonda sit down and work out a compromise, Thailand's long-standing conflict could be brought to an end.

"The problem has gone much beyond that. Besides, that kind of a forum can't be organized either because a privy councillor can't get involved in politics in the first place," the former deputy premier told Matichon in an interview published today.

Surakiart believes though that a series of "unpublicized negotiations" could be held whereby five to six parties are represented: the yellow shirts, the red shirts, Pheu Thai Party, the Democrats, and the security side.

What about the "invisible hands?" Surakiart says if one talks about "invisible hands," there could be from many sides. "In fact, each party to the conflict all has its own invisible hands as well."

Yes, they will have to be included in the process, he says, stressing that some of the discussions may have to be done off the record.

What about the royal institition? Surakiarts believes privy councillors have nothing to do with politics.

There is even question about who he himself represents in this new peace-making role.
Surakiart reacted promptly to the question.

"This kind of questions shouldn't be raised anymore. People should stop following that line of thinking. I am not a new face in politics and I have a long record of academic work," he said.

Although his wife is related to Her Majesty the Queen, Surakiart says, "we never discuss politics. I have no connections."

Surakiart has obviously assumed a new role. He was once close to Thaksin. He also was seen to be close to the Abhisit government when he was made chairman of the advisory board of the Pheau Paendin Party. Today, he wears a new hat -- as an adviser to the national reconciliation body. Of course, he will well connected. And that probably is why he is proposing a new formula to make peace.

He knows the challenge is enormous though. "The problem in the past five to six years is that we haven't had a referee trusted by all the parties concerned. Everyone who has proposed a way out has been given a label. He or she has been inevitably branded as siding with one side or the other. Now, the Truth for Reconciliation Commission appears to be the most trusted body. That's why I feel more optimistic," Surakiart says.

He will have to prove that he can play the part of the "honest broker" effectively. That remains to be seen.

When Premier Yingluck turns farmer...in this ad

Wow, Premier Yingluck as farmer looks very happy indeed. It's a half-page advertisement in the local newspapers this morning, Oct 7 to mark the beginning of the government's much-heralded Rice Mortgage Policy.

"Don't selll your rice if you don't get a good price. Come, mortgage your paddy stock with the government," declared the ad which urges people to report any corrupt practices in the process -- probably the weakest link in the programme which has come under criticism from several segments in society.

PM Yingluck herself hasn't said much about the project except to insist that it will go ahead. Bearing the brunt is Deputy PM Kittirat na Ranong who has sparred with all critics over the issue. He says he is confident all the past loopholes will be plugged and that all the possible problems raised by detractors will be addressed.

"Some people have tried to put pressure on the government, demanding a pledge that if the project doesn't work out, how would the government show responsibility. All I can say is that if it doesn't work, the government can't stay on," Kittirat declared on a few radio programmes in the past week.

Surely, the scheme will come under scrutiny every step of the way.

PM's Twitter account hacker may even get govt job offer

A 20-year-old student of a well-known university appeared with ICT Minister Anudit Nakhothap in a press conference just now to confess that he was the hacker who had broken into Premier Yingluck Shinawatra's Twitter account on Sunday.

Ekawit Thongdiworakul,according to the minister,had committed the act out of "lack of foresight" and decided to give himself up. He wasn't arrested by authorities who had claimed earlier that they had "clues" to who the hacker was.

Interestingly enough,the suspect wasn't allowed to make any statement of his own during the press conference.

Panthongtae Shinawatra, Thaksin's son, meanwhile,was quoted in a Twitter message that the student had made a bad blunder without any ulterior motives. With such computer talent, he could probably help the government crack down on some questionable websites doing illegal things.

Who knows, this young hacker may have inadvertently stumbled onto a job even before he graduates.

'Shadow PM' hard at work

In case you were wondering where Thaksin Shinawatra was as Premier Yingluck Shinawatra was frantically visiting flooded areas,stop speculating. He couldn't obviously "disappear" for too long.

Newspaper headlines this morning had him at least doing two things from somewhere out there yesterday. He made a phone call to try to settle a public dispute between one of his Pheu Thai MPs, Payab Panket, and his coalition partner Banharn Silpa-archa of Chat Thai Pattana Party, over the flooding situation.

Payab had led a group of local villagers to complain to the Irrigation Department accusing Banharn of having helped keep his Supanburi province from flooding, at the expense of other provinces nearby.

Banharn responded angrily by denying the accusation and wondering aloud why Pheu Thai's leaders had allowed at least one of their MPs to hurl such unfounded accusations against him.

Thaksin of course heard about the wrangle and promptly called the parties concerned to attempt at "damage control," according to Post Today.

Another headline said Thaksin also called in to make changes to a list of reshuffle of officials at the Education Minister although Education Minister Voravaj Apinyakul had made his first move-arounds for officials, Thai Post reported.

So, the "shadow prime minister" isn't too far away from where he considers to be trouble spots while the "official premier" is busy with her own problems.

PM Yingluck's Twitter account hacked!

A lot of tweeple surfing Twitter messages this morning were surprised by some strongly-worded posts supposedly deliverd on @PouYingluck - Premier Yingluck's account on Twitter.

Wow! some real self-criticisms by the PM? Early soul-searching statements? A few of the remarks in the account were about how this government is mishandling the problems of the country.

Soon,the Twitter world was abuzz with questions: "Is the PM's Twitter account hacked?" or "Strange things are happening at the PM's Twitter account" and things along that line.

Within half an hour, the "PM's team" posted an urgent message, declaring that the prime minister's Twitter account has been hacked and that some of the messages posted this morning were fake.

Soon, Pantongtae Shinawatra, the PM's counsin (Thaksin's son) tweeted: "Some people with ill intentions against the country have hacked the prime minister's account on Twitter posting messages that are divisive..."

The PM was in Lopburi to inspect measures to help flood victims. She met angry villagers who have been badly affected by the damage done to Bangchomsri Water Gate.

Yingluck's first radio show: No drama, no blunder

It's her first time on radio. And there wasn't any major blunder. Premier Yingluck passed the test although she delivered no real new substance or any memorable remarks. Yes, she closely followed the script. And that at least ensured that she didn't make any statement she wasn't supposed to.

Her voice was broadcast on radio and also on Channel 11 which used a series of nice looking pictures of the premier to help audience glue to the TV set. That's more or less what her brother Thaksin did when he was premier. Unlike Samak Sundaravej, another ex-premier, who went live on television with great relish. He didn't need a script at all and obviously his good ratings were also guaranteed because the public was expecting him to hit out at somebody somewhere every week.

As for Somchai Wongsawasdi, another former premier, I can't really recall his television show. If there was any, it must have been rather unremarkable, so much so that I can't remember him giving a weekly talk. But then, he wasn't there very long, was he?

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the immediate past premier, took to television like a fish jumping into the canal. Not only didn't he need a script, Abhisit could articulate complicated issues in simple terms with apparent ease.

But then, eloquence on TV didn't guarantee his popularity in an election. Yingluck didn't have to engage in any debate with Abhisit and she won hands down.

Which part of history do you want to delete?

Despite the promise of a more inclusive government after Pheu Thai Party’s overwhelming victory in the election, national reconciliation doesn’t seem to be at hand.
Bipartisanship isn’t going to be the order of the day. Political appointments as rewards for “services rendered” and reshuffling of government officials that is based on personal loyalty rather than meritocracy may in fact make any talk of conciliatory attempts less credible.
Extreme proposals from both sides of the fence could in fact make things worse. Even a sweeping amnesty for both the reds and yellow shirts won’t reduce mutual suspicion.
Suspicion that every move by the government and its supporters is aimed at helping absolve Thaksin Shinawatra from guilt will intensify the conflict.
The controversial proposal from a group of seven academics of Thammasat University’s Law Faculty to “go back to Square One” by nullifying the Sept 19, 2006 coup and all its subsequent actions is a case in point.
The academics insist with great determination that they are simply campaigning for “people’s democracy” and that their move is in no way related to Thaksin.
But critics are quick to point out that the very idea of riding the “time machine” to return to the pre-coup situation and to consider everything related to the putsch null and void has inevitably revived the split in society yet again.
The proposal’s very brief concept is to reject the coup as illegal and therefore legal actions should be taken to arrive at the conclusion that the coup never happened. And there were no valid subsequent laws to legitimize it.
The pro-government elements welcomed the proposal almost immediately. They suggested that all the agencies set up by the coup leaders should be retroactively revoked, including the committee that decided to seize Thaksin’s assets.
That would automatically mean that all the verdicts by the Constitutional Court and Criminal Court for Political Position Holders against Thaksin and those concerned must necessarily be cancelled.
Those against the idea jumped on the proposal with a vengeance. They argued that the coup, whether they like it or not, was considered, as had been Thailand’s political tradition all along, legalised once a new constitution was drawn up, passed by the legislative body and even went through a public referendum.
They also contended that if the 2006 coup was to be declared null and void, what about the coups before that one? And if one were to take that line of argument to its logical and legalistic conclusion, the recent election that put Yingluck Shinawatra in the prime minister’s seat would also be considered unconstitutional. That could really turn into a real political mess.
In a sense though the “extreme” proposal from the “Seven Wise Men” does have its legal logic. If coup was illegal, umdemocratic and set a bad example for military officers with political ambition, then the latest act of forceful takeover must be dealt with in such a dramatic manner that no armed elements would ever dare think of staging another military takeover against a popularly elected government ever again.
But then, one can also argue that you just can’t turn the clock back and wave a magic wand to make bad things disappear from the history of the country just like that. The coup after all did take place. Bad things did happen. And if another group of people assumes power, they could change things around, and order legal actions to be taken against those “illegal acts.” But they can’t issue laws to make things disappear from the pages of history.
In fact, since the coup leader is still alive and in fact serving as the leader of a political party, there must be legitimate ways to sue him, send him to court and in the process all the bad, illegal things could be exposed. For if we were to declare that nothing happened on Sept 19 five years ago, how can we then punish the people who staged that illegal coup -- if we were serious about wiping out a dirty chapter in the country’s political, that is?
Come to think of it, if we really possessed that magic wand and could go back in time to make certain things disappear from our past, I would rather use it (provided that we could only use it once) to declare that the five years of severe social conflicts didn’t happen at all.
A huge blank of that part of our history would be much preferable to a period covering half of decade of dangerous, calamitous confrontations.
If things were really that simple...